People leave left and right.. Promotions are based on years of experience and projects worked on last year rather than how you performed. Under performers are in constant fear and were given unrealistic targets before sacking them on a friday eve. Still uses Windows XP, world around you is changing. E-com is not your only

Advice to ManagementAdvice

WS is a great company with a great history and has a lot of value in the market. IT dept needs to focus on performers. People worked in the same technology for last 15 years cannot change overnight to a new one. It takes time and needs some time. Canteen needs some subsidized food.

Management merciless in trying to squeeze every last ounce of contribution from employees. The positive recognition that existed for the first 4 years of my tenure there was non-existent by the time I left. Work days were habitually 10 - 12 hours, even off season. The systems and reports that were in place were completely inadequate for the business model that the catalog began to use. Finally there was no recognition of the fact that the workload increased over 250% while I was employed there, but the headcount actually shrank by 15%: between my hiring and my leaving each of us was doing nearly three times the workload, with no additional compensation. There was no attempt by anyone above middle management to look at working conditions and no choice for middle management to make any change due to pressures from above to increase productivity.

The company itself is fun to work for - to talk about cooking & food every day was great. To help the customers find the right cooking solutions was a lot of fun too. The company often had contests so that stores, no matter what size, had the potential to win prizes for the employees. The discount there is also great. The people I worked with (for the most part) were great and since then I keep in contact with them. Also depending on the store you work in, you can have some really great mangers who make you excited to come into work each day.

Cons

The store manager is lazy. He sits in the backroom and listens to his podcasts and pretends to have a M-F 9-5 job like his friends do, which is far from the reality. The DM is blinded to this and it was extremely frustrating to work for a manager who didn't work hard (or at all). The hours sometimes can be tough, especially if you have a family. The customers, depending on where the store is located, can be ridiculous - their level of entitlement is mind-blowing - they want you do wait on them NOW even though you're already helping someone else and "Why can't you wrap this giant porcelain platter in less than 10 min? I need to leave for my nail appointment." The visa card & email programs - stop forcing your employees to do that - many customers get really upset for being asked about this stuff!

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Get rid of the store manager and put someone who really cares about the business not just earning a paycheck. Also have a serious sit down with the DM for letting the store get so bad. Also, stop forcing